Snooker: Unstoppable O'sullivan Trounces Hendry After Blowing Davis Away

Ronnie O'Sullivan's 6-0 trouncing of Stephen Hendry to retain the Betfred Premier League title at the Manchester International Convention Centre brought him not only the £50,000 first prize but £27,000 for the 27 frames he won in the seven-man qualifying group and £10,000 for his 10 centuries.

In winning the title, his 34th from 38 major finals, for the fifth time in eight years, O'Sullivan was assisted by one of the worst performances of Hendry's career. There was nothing the Scot could do about O'Sullivan's 97 opening break but he failed to exploit four gilt-edged chances in the second frame, which he lost on the black, and his confidence and form quickly dwindled to zero.

It was, in fact, the dreadful anticlimax to O'Sullivan's semi-final performance in beating Steve Davis 5-3 when he became the first player to make four centuries in a televised best-of-nine-frames match. Peter Ebdon in 1993 and Tom Ford last season had previously performed this feat in qualifying competitions.

The world No1 took a 2-0 lead with breaks of 136 and 100, fell 3-2 behind after sterling resistance from the 48-year-old Davis but seized victory with an unstoppable run of 116, 134 and 85."I played all right but what can you do about that?" asked Davis, who had started his own trio of frame wins with a 66 clearance to steal the third frame on the black.

With £50,000 on offer for the winner of the play-offs, £25,000 for the runner-up and £12,500 for the losing semi-finalists from the original field of seven - plus £1,000 for any further centuries - this 18-year-old event, regarded for years as one of the circuit's makeweights, is now offering its champion more prize money than any ranking event except the world championship.

Promoted by Barry Hearn's Matchroom to full houses in its group stages from Aberdeen to Plymouth, the event has a unique selling point, a 25-seconds-a-shot time limit. As O'Sullivan's average shot time is only 16 seconds in ranking events, this suits him down to the ground.

The threat of a five-point time penalty caused several shots to go awry over the past few weeks with the five seconds' warning ticking audibly away but no penalty was actually incurred until three were imposed upon, of all people, O'Sullivan in the fifth frame against Davis.

Even this, though, showed O'Sullivan's subtle grasp of tactics. Pinned in positions requiring considerable thought, he accepted the time fouls rather than risk running out of the six time-outs he would have been permitted over the contest's nine scheduled frames.

Such refinements were not required last night as O'Sullivan extended his personal head-to-head record over Hendry to 32-22. O'Sullivan turns 30 today and it looks as though it may prove to be a dangerous age - for his rivals.